To Do Is To Know

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Biography as Theology, Theological Animation1 Comment

the-good-samaritan-1907By Ched Myers, the 8th Sunday after Pentecost (Luke 10:25-37; right: “The Good Samaritan” by Paula Modersohn-Becker)

Note: This is part of a series of weekly comments on the Lukan gospel readings from the Revised Common Lectionary during year C, 2016.

The famous Parable of the Good Samaritan is often sentimentalized, but its subversive character and genuine profundity can never be exhausted. It comes on the heels of Jesus’ sending out of the “seventy,” and his long “missionary discourse” (Lk 10:1-24).  How different the history of Christianity would have been had disciples in every age followed these relatively simple but incisive instructions to travel with the gospel in a vulnerable and provisional mode, rather than a dominating one! But if the unholy joining of mission and empire has been the first pillar of Christendom’s apostasy, surely the second has been the church’s tendency to define faith through dogma. It is this religious bad habit that Luke addresses in this Sunday’s parable. Continue reading “To Do Is To Know” →

Standing on Our Own Feet

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Cloud of Witnesses, Subverting Empire1 Comment

MertonBy Tommy Airey

It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than to be a soldier on the battlefield.
Cornel West

45 years ago, Jim Douglass wrote a little book called Resistance and Contemplation (1972), urging radical disciples to take seriously both the personal and political–what he called “the yin and the yang of the Movement.” In the second chapter, he recounts the last talk that Thomas Merton (photo right) gave, just hours before his death from electrocution in that Bangkok bathtub in 1968. Merton told the story of Tibetan Buddhist monks being driven out of their homeland by Communist revolutionaries. The elder monk tells the fretting younger protege, “From now on, Brother, everybody stands on his own feet.” Continue reading “Standing on Our Own Feet” →

10 Reasons I believe in the Sacrament of Marriage

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Feminist/Womanist/Queer Liberation and Theology2 Comments

weddingBy Lydia Wylie-Kellermann,
(first published on Converge’s website a couple years ago)

Lately, I have found myself in conversations with friends about relationships and commitment. I’ve been hearing them say, “We will be together as long as it works and if it stops working, then it will end.” There seems to be a distrust and even suspicion of the act of marriage. These are friends who have relationships I admire and who are clearly in it for the long haul. I trust their decision making and discernment, but it has made me pause to reflect on why we choose marriage.

1. Community

A marriage is rooted within a community. We prayed that our relationship would be a gift to the larger community and asking for the help of accountability and support when things are difficult. Continue reading “10 Reasons I believe in the Sacrament of Marriage” →

Mary Cosby: ¡Presente!

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Cloud of WitnessesLeave a comment

mary cosbyFrom Kayla McClurg at Church of the Saviour:

Mary Cosby (right) passed away very gently and suddenly this afternoon (July 3) at Christ House in Washington, DC. She had been experiencing weakness the past few days, but had gone to worship this morning as usual. In the afternoon we sang hymns, prayed and spoke of Gordon. Someone earlier had said, “Gordon will be right there ready to meet you,” to which Mary whispered, “He’d better be!” Today is Gordon’s birthday. So with her sense of humor and great dignity in tact, she has made the grand transition. Thanks be to God for a life beautifully lived!

Never a Doubt

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

CamusFrom Albert Camus’ essay “The Unbeliever and the Christian” (1948):

The world expects that Christians will speak out loud and clear, so that never a doubt, never the slightest doubt, could arise in the heart of the simplest man [sic].

The world expects that Christians will get away from abstractions and confront the blood stained face which history has taken on today.

The grouping we need is a grouping of men resolved to speak out clearly and to pay up personally.

Destroying the Golden Calf

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Art as Resistance, Subverting EmpireLeave a comment

golden calfA Facebook Event Page for July 3 from the Simone Weil House in Minneapolis, MN:

Uncle Sam is turning 240. In the days of his fathers, this land was abundant with forests and clean water and myriad indigenous cultures. A sad waste of productivity. His fathers, the European nations, subjugated the land and its people, and brought in new labor from across the Great Sea. And thus, when little Sam was born, he received a worthy inheritance…land and labor. Continue reading “Destroying the Golden Calf” →

Hospitality and The People of God

On By RadicalDiscipleshipIn Subverting Empire, Theological AnimationLeave a comment

Emma LazarusBy Wes Howard-Brook and Sue Ferguson Johnson

For Jesus followers in the US, this week’s Gospel offers a powerful counter-narrative to the flag-waving patriotism of the 4th of July. Nearly every detail challenges those of us who live and thrive at the heart of empire to reconsider which “sacred story” binds us together as a people. Continue reading “Hospitality and The People of God” →

Because of Fear

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TrumpFrom the Journal for Preachers:

TO: CHRISTIAN LEADERS IN THE UNITED STATES

The statement—“An Appeal to Christians in the United States”—reflects a growing alarm that our country is entering a very dangerous period in which some political leaders and some media are directly challenging our most fundamental Christian convictions. The statement is consequently a theological affirmation. We hope that you will read the statement carefully and join those who have already signed their names to it. Continue reading “Because of Fear” →